Sidney Chambers has to be the dishiest (and coolest) vicar I have ever come across in literature (and maybe even in real life . . . though I admit I can't say I have any vicars in my own personal circle of friends . . . a pity, I think). What can I tell you about James Runcie's first Grantchester Mystery, Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death? Are you like me and you watched the adaptation this past winter on PBS? Okay, James Norton does make the character even dishier than he appears in the book, but he is pretty darn likable in the book (and I already have the second book on hand, too, Sidney Chambers and the Perils of the Night).
I set out to read the book (the first of four so far), which is a collection of interlinked stories, before watching the TV adaptation, but quickly fell behind. So I have now read the book and only watched some of the episodes and now it is safe to go back and watch them all in a mini-marathon Sidney Chambers weekend. Such a trial is my life sometimes. You may have already read the book? Seen the shows? I won't try and write about each story though I think I will tell you about my favorite. In case you don't know Sidney, let me tell you about him since I plan on continuing on and always like to have a character's back story in mind as I progress through the books.
Sidney Chambers is not your regular, everyday run-of-the-mill stereotypical vicar. For one thing he likes jazz. He is good friends with a detective, Geordie Keating, with whom he likes to play backgammon and have interesting discussions. It's thanks to Geordie that he so often finds himself enmeshed in criminal investigations. What a perfect "in" anyway--nothing like a father-confessor figure to wrangle a few truths out of criminals and witnesses. Sidney most certainly instills a certain confidence and assurance in people and then they end up telling him all sorts of things. Besides he has an analytical mind (as well as a gentleness about him--though he is by no means perfect) which helps. Oh, and to make things interesting he is in love (I know he is even if he doesn't come out and say it) with a wealthy debutante who happens to work at the National Gallery as an Art Historian. They are very good friends, but it wouldn't do for her to marry a vicar (she is in love with him, too, even though I am not sure she admits it to herself) when she is used to living a certain kind of life. Not really vicar's wife material is Amanda.
"Canon Sidney Chambers had never intended to become a detective. Indeed, it came about quite by chance, after a funeral, when a handsome woman of indeterminate age voiced her suspicion that the recent death of a Cambridge solicitor was not a suicide, as had been widely reported, but murder."
It's 1953 and yes, the setting is Cambridge (with brief forays to London to see Amanda and hear jazz . . . curiously she is slightly more conventional than Sidney and thinks jazz pretty atrocious). More than one person makes the mistake of assuming Sidney stayed out of the war, being a vicar and all, but he actually served as an officer in the Scots Guards and carries the horrors of the war with him still. Maybe it is his experiences in the war that makes him not only compassionate but very open-minded. He can be quite charming, too.
"Sidney Chambers was a tall, slender man in his early thirties. A lover of warm beer and hot jazz, a keen cricketer and an avid reader, he was known for his understated clerical elegance. His high forehead, aquiline nose and longish chin were softened by nut-brown eyes and a gentle smile, one that suggested he was prepared to think the best of people. He had had the priestly good fortune to be born on a Sabbath day and was ordained soon after the war. After a brief curacy in Coventry, and a short spell as domestic chaplain to the Bishop of Ely, he had been appointed vicar to the church of St. Andrew and St. Mary in 1952."
The stories flow nicely from one to the next and follow the rhythm of the year, and even though each is its own individual mystery the overall story develops just as in a novel. My favorite story is one that actually features Amanda more than Sidney, "The Lost Holbein". Sidney is somewhat out of his element when he's invited to Locket Hall complete with a Lord, a butler and rare painting possibly by Holbein (even though its owner thinks it's rather ugly). But the Tevershams are parishioners, even if they are the sort who only attend church on high days and holidays.
(Side note--Sidney is not always the perfect christian . . . it crosses his mind that he wishes he had the courage to turn people like the Tevershams away when they can only be bothered to go to church on a few important days of the year. And not every vicar is a fan of dry sherry. He would much prefer something just a tad stronger).
When the discussion turns to the collection of paintings with a potential Holbein amongst them, and how it's sale to a museum might save the family estate, Sidney mentions his good friend Miss Kendell and how she might look at their collection of paintings and advise them. Indeed the painting was likely a Holbein. Was likely. When the family had the painting cleaned a forgery was returned in its place. Knowing Sidney's predilection for amateur sleuthing, Amanda thinks she might make a few discreet inquiries on her own. No need to call Sidney in until she is sure what she suspects--that the painting was swapped out. She goes in search of the restorer and finds herself entangled in something far more sinister than she bargained for.
Like any good cozy mystery, there is a dark underside to happy village life. Things are never so shiny and easy as they appear. Still, this first Grantchester mystery was as charming as I had hoped and expected it to be. And just as I suspected when I set out to write about it, and remember the pleasure I had in meeting Sidney (and his adorable dog Dickens!), I now want to go pull the next book off my shelf and begin reading. I think it is a full length novel rather than stories. Where will Sidney find himself next. Will Amanda marry one of her rich suitors? Will Sidney try for her hand? Or maybe he will go to Germany to visit Hildegard, a woman he met in one of his investigations? There were a few sparks there as well. I only hope there will be a next season to the Grantchester Mysteries on PBS. But first, as always, must read the books.